Official in fraud case takes leave

Accused of misspending $10m from Merrimack special education group

June 30, 2011|By Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff

The education official accused of siphoning more than $10 million in public funds from a Merrimack Valley agency dedicated to special needs students is taking an unpaid leave from a related nonprofit organization, where he has received more than $500,000 in annual salary and benefits, according to the nonprofit’s board of directors.

John B. Barranco, the former director of the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, the public agency that provides direct services to special needs children, was recently accused of paying himself, a former girlfriend, and a handful of top staff inflated salaries and bonuses through his control of the nonprofit Merrimack Education Center. He was also accused of racking up more than $50,000 in personal expenses on a credit card issued by the nonprofit, including improvements to two vacations homes and a trip to the 2005 Kentucky Derby.

In a statement released yesterday, the education center’s board said Barranco “offered to take a leave of absence to ensure the board was able to conduct a proper review’’ of the allegations lodged last week by state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan.

Sullivan’s findings, issued after a yearlong investigation, are also being reviewed by criminal and civil prosecutors in the state attorney general’s office and by the state auditor.

In its statement yesterday, the board said that chairman Gary Garmon will oversee the day-to-day operations of the nonprofit center, which provides school transportation, teacher training, and other services to school districts. The collaborative oversees the teaching of special needs students for 10 school districts in the Merrimack Valley, in space leased from the center.

“In one of his first acts, Garmon assured all school superintendents who receive MEC’s services that there will be no interruption in the high level services which MEC provides,’’ the statement said.

The nonprofit board, which met Monday, also said that it had voluntarily provided more than 12,000 pages of documents to Sullivan’s office in an effort to cooperate, but that Sullivan never gave the center “an opportunity to refute the allegations.’’ The board offered no further comment.

However, Jack McCarthy, a senior assistant inspector general, said the center did not fully comply with investigators. “They in fact did give us many documents, but some of the most important documents that we requested they would not give us,’’ he said. “And they would not give us access to Mr. Barranco or members of the board.’’